Chapter 683: Night Raid

"Continue to keep an eye on every move Ma Han makes; once he is exhausted, I will personally go and take his head." Ma Jin lifted his wine cup and drained the wine inside in one gulp.

Far away in Qinzhou, he knew nothing of the current changes in firearms in Yanzhou, and even assumed that the firearms in Ma Han's army were still stuck at the level of the Northern Expedition, so he was full of confidence.

After all, in his mind, it was impossible for Yan Wang to trust Ma Han completely.

"Don't forget me; this credit that has been delivered for free cannot be without my share." At this moment, the Northern Di commander beside Ma Jin said.

He was the Northern Di's Commander stationed in Xian City, in command of the fifty thousand Northern Di Cavalry within Xian City.

These fifty thousand Northern Di Cavalry were responsible for guarding Qinzhou and Yongzhou, while also serving as a check on Ma Jin to prevent him from harboring ulterior motives.

When Western Liang perished, Ma Jin took the opportunity to defect to the Northern Di; because he was very familiar with Qinzhou and Yongzhou, Mule Hongzhen ordered him to govern the two provinces.

However, nominally, he was in charge of Qinzhou and Yongzhou.

But in reality, Talutai's status was above his.

For some major decisions, he needed to obey Talutai.

Upon hearing this, Ma Jin revealed a fawning smile, "That goes without saying; what is mine, Ma Jin, belongs to Lord Talutai."

Talutai patted Ma Jin on the shoulder, very satisfied, "First drink, then kill."

Having caroused for the night, Ma Jin returned to his mansion drunk that night and slept until noon the next day.

Before he was fully awake, he was startled by a burst of urgent knocking on the door.

With an unhappy expression, he put on his undergarments and came to the door, saying to the Personal Guards knocking, "What are you knocking for? Has the sky fallen?"

"General, the sky has truly fallen; Rang City was conquered by Ma Han overnight." The Personal Guard knelt on the ground, not daring to even raise his head.

"What, Rang City was broken through?" Ma Jin simply could not believe his ears, "Nonsense! Do you know that reporting false military intelligence is punishable by death according to the law?"

The Personal Guard lowered his head even further, "This subordinate dares not lie; this is what the cavalry who escaped from Rang City said."

Ma Jin's complexion suddenly became extremely ugly, and he muttered, "How is this possible? Even if ten thousand pigs were guarding Rang City, it would be impossible for Ma Han to break the city in one night."

But he knew that the cavalry who had escaped could not be lying.

Suddenly, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back; Ma Jin felt that this matter was too inconceivable.

He hurriedly went to Talutai's residence and told him the news.

After understanding the situation in Rang City, Talutai also found it unbelievable.

Frowning, he said, "This matter is somewhat unusual. You immediately prepare supplies and mobilize troops to defend the city. I will lead the Northern Di Iron Cavalry to lie in ambush outside Xian City. If Ma Han's main force comes to attack Xian City, we will coordinate from inside and outside to annihilate them."

Ma Jin nodded, "Lord Talutai's insight is excellent."

Given the current situation, the Northern Di Cavalry staying inside the city was actually of little use.

After all, the advantage of cavalry lies in fighting on horseback.

Inside the city, they could only serve as Infantry to defend the city, which was a waste.

Therefore, Talutai's decision was not wrong.

In the following few days, the teams of scouts traveling between Xian City and Rang City were endless.

However, no matter how they scouted, they all discovered one fact: the Ma Family's troops had vanished overnight.

This news left both Ma Jin and Talutai very confused, yet they dared not lower their guard because of it.

"Hehe, this Ma Jin and Talutai are quite clever; one inside, one outside, wanting to catch us in a pincer." Thirty li south of Xian City, Dian Zhang held a Telescope, staring at the Northern Di scouts passing by on the main road.

Last night, they had arrived here and immediately slipped into this small, not-so-large forest.

This time, considering the target was too large and easily discovered,

he and Ma Han decided to break the troops into smaller units.

The hundred thousand troops were dispersed into ten ten-thousand-man units, circling toward the vicinity of Xian City from different directions.

In this way, their teams could flexibly avoid the scouts' detection.

Furthermore, the fierce firearms made them very confident as well.

In their view, even if a ten-thousand-man unit encountered five times the number of enemies, they could still put up a fight.

And once the ten units assembled outside Xian City, they would launch an attack on Xian City.

However, after they first arrived at Xian City, they discovered an unexpected situation.

The scouts coming and going, besides entering Xian City, also always headed toward a poplar forest on the north side of Xian City.

Feeling strange about this, after some scouting, they discovered that a large number of Northern Di Cavalry were lying in ambush in the poplar forest on the north side.

Clearly, this Northern Di Cavalry force was waiting for them to attack the city and then strike them from the rear.

"The Telescope is truly a good thing." Ma Han could not help but exclaim.

It was the ultra-long-range vision provided by the Telescope that allowed them to obtain this important information without being discovered.

Otherwise, he was confident he could still take Xian City, but it would be unavoidable to suffer heavy casualties.

After all, if they were suddenly attacked from the rear by cavalry and their formation was thrown into chaos, it would be very difficult for the Infantry to resist.

Thinking for a moment, he said, "Since that is the case, let us use their own strategy against them, set a trap, annihilate this Northern Di Cavalry force, and then take Xian City."

Then, he whispered a few words into Dian Zhang's ear.

Dian Zhang nodded repeatedly, a smile appearing on his face, "The Head of the Family has truly learned many things in Yanzhou."

Having said that, he turned and left to convey the orders to the soldiers.

Waiting for another day, the other ten-thousand-man units arrived one after another near Xian City.

Dian Zhang made contact with the commanders of the other ten-thousand-man units, and late the next night, he ordered four ten-thousand-man units to quietly sneak to the north side of Xian City and lie in ambush on the path the Northern Di Cavalry must take.

He then led the remaining six ten-thousand-man units to sneak under the walls of Xian City under the cover of darkness, sending out skirmishers to throw Hand Grenades at the city walls in the dark of night.

"Boom, boom, boom..." A series of explosions rang out, and the Ma Family soldiers patrolling the city walls were instantly blown to death.

The sound of the Hand Grenades alarmed the soldiers of Ma Jin inside the city.

Ma Jin also woke up from his deep sleep; he immediately mobilized troops and sent generals to the Nan Cheng to defend against the attack of Ma Han's troops.

"Waiting day and night, you have finally come. This time, I will make sure you have no way to return." Looking at the firelight on the city walls, the corners of Ma Jin's mouth curled into a cold sneer.

In his view, no army could withstand a surprise attack by the Northern Di Cavalry.

At the same time, Tata, who had been waiting in the White Poplar Forest for several days, was overjoyed.

His plan had succeeded.

Drawing his Curved Blade, he shouted to the soldiers under his command, "Charge for me, and kill every last one of the Great Song dogs."

Having said that, borrowing the faint glimmer of the moonlight, he led the Northern Di Cavalry galloping toward Nan Cheng.

However, he had not even traveled ten miles when he suddenly saw something flying over from both sides.

Before he could react, his head was suddenly struck, a blinding light magnified in his pupils, and he lost consciousness before he could even hear the thunderous sound of the explosion.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

In an instant, the entire road turned into a sea of fire, and the Northern Di Cavalry were thrown into disarray amidst the explosions of the Hand Grenades.

Many Northern Di Cavalry were blown to death, men and horses alike.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Just as the Northern Di Cavalry fell into chaos, gunfire rang out again from the darkness.

Amidst the symphony of Hand Grenade explosions and Rifled Muskets, the Northern Di Cavalry suffered heavy casualties.

Furthermore, due to the death of Tata and extreme fear, they fell into chaos.